| Intemelio | |
|---|---|
| Intemelio | |
| Spoken in | Monaco, France, Italy |
| Native speakers | approximately 10,000 (date missing) |
| Language family | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Linguasphere | 51-AAA-ohb (Imperia) |
Intemelio is a Ligurian dialect spoken historically from the Principality of Monaco to the Italian province of Imperia.
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Since before the Renaissance the Ligurian language was spoken in all the territories of the Republic of Genoa : in the western area of this republic one of its groups (spoken mainly on the coast between Monaco and Sanremo) was called Intermelio and was centered around Ventimiglia[1]
Indeed, Monaco and Menton (then called "Mentone") were part of the Republic of Genoa, of which were the extreme western point on the mediterranean coast.[2]: the dialect spoken in this area in those centuries and until the 19th century was ligurian, mainly on the coast (with some influences from occitan).
Only after 1861 the french language has started to influence the Monegasque and Mentonasc dialect (actually the scholar Werner Forner believes Mentonasc is part of a ligurian dialect called Intemelio[3]).
In the actual Italian area of Ventimiglia there it is the most renowned Intemelio: the "Ventimigliese", that stretches from the coast until Piedmont.
The Brigasc dialect is connected to the "Ventimigliese", as a mountanous version of the intemelio that has some occitan influences. This Brigasc dialect has reduced its area in the last centuries, but was present in the hinterland of Nice from La Turbie up to Escragnolles during the late Middle ages.
In Sanremo the local intemelio dialect is heavily influenced by the genoese dialect.
Intemelio is used by nearly 10,000 people in the area of Ventimiglia of the province of Imperia, but other 40,000 are able to understand it and speak a few sentences of this dialect in western Liguria.
A few thousands speak fluently the local variants of intemelio in France: Monegasque, Mentonasc and Brigasc.
The ligurian area of Seborga speaks the "ventimigliese" dialect Intermelio and the so called Principality of Seborga considered the possibility to use this dialect as official language.[4]
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